Zak Taylor's replacement

[SuperBowlBound!]

To start off I for one would give him 1 if not 2 more years.

I don't have a replacement for him but laugh at the people on the board who think the best solution is always to fire the coach.
Firing coach should be the last thing you want to do. It could dramatically change how your team is being built and set you back 2-3 more years.

Those that are clamoring to have Zak Taylor fired, what staff are you going to bring in to replace him with. Before you say someone you need to make sure that they would actually coach here.

Bill Cowher - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Tony Dungy - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Rex Ryan - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals and we would not want him as a HC.

Lets see who you got.

[*michaelsean*]

You forgot to tell us you can’t go to Walmart and find a head coach.

[Hoofhearted]

Doubt kills more dreams/goals than failure ever will. You cannot be afraid to do something different/new just because you fear the unknown.

[Whatever]

(11-18-2020, 09:29 AM)SuperBowlBound! Wrote: To start off I for one would give him 1 if not 2 more years.

I don't have a replacement for him but laugh at the people on the board who think the best solution is always to fire the coach.
Firing coach should be the last thing you want to do. It could dramatically change how your team is being built and set you back 2-3 more years.

Those that are clamoring to have Zak Taylor fired, what staff are you going to bring in to replace him with. Before you say someone you need to make sure that they would actually coach here.

Bill Cowher - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Tony Dungy - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Rex Ryan - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals and we would not want him as a HC.

Lets see who you got.

I could see Brian Schottenheimer or Dirk Koetter being in the mix.

[wildcatnku24]

I'd prefer to see a Lou Anarumo replacement IF there was going to have to be a coaching change. Perhaps Jack Del Rio for real this time?!

[*pally*]

(11-18-2020, 10:50 AM)wildcatnku24 Wrote: I'd prefer to see a Lou Anarumo replacement IF there was going to have to be a coaching change.  Perhaps Jack Del Rio for real this time?!

except Jack Del Rio is the DC for the Washingtons so not likely to make a lateral move

[RiverRat13]

I doubt they'd replace a young, inexperienced guy with another, but Joe Brady would be a name to throw out there. Unlike Zac, he actually has a couple of years of results on the resume.

[capitalist_pig]

If there was a ton of talent on the roster I would get firing the guy, but that isn't the case. The defensive line is second to last against the run in almost every metric, second to last in sacks and dead last in forced fumbles. Your DB's get smoked in the red zone giving up the most passing TD's of any team. To be honest I think your inability to stop the run is masking the deficiencies in your secondary but those same deficiencies are exposed in the red zone.

Offensively your offensive line is one of the worst in football talent wise. The run blocking is abysmal and the pass blocking is suspect giving up the second most sacks on the season.

Zac Taylor's play calling sucked at the beginning of the year, but in the last few weeks I have found it to be way more creative tying together the run game and pass game very well using formations. I thought the guy sucked to start the year looking very predictable but now, I think he has gotten it together and starting to put together an offense.

You have to have talent to succeed in the NFL, and right now you guys look to be 2 seasons away from fixing all of your problems. But the good news is you have a franchise QB and an innovative offensive coach, which is 9/10ths of the puzzle in today's NFL.

Biggest mistake on the year in my opinion was not moving vets during the trade deadline to stack up draft picks and go younger. AJ Green and Geno Atkins needed to be moved.

[*PhilHos*]

(11-18-2020, 09:29 AM)SuperBowlBound! Wrote: To start off I for one would give him 1 if not 2 more years.

I don't have a replacement for him but laugh at the people on the board who think the best solution is always to fire the coach.
Firing coach should be the last thing you want to do. It could dramatically change how your team is being built and set you back 2-3 more years.

Those that are clamoring to have Zak Taylor fired, what staff are you going to bring in to replace him with. Before you say someone you need to make sure that they would actually coach here.

Bill Cowher - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Tony Dungy - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals.
Rex Ryan - Would not come out of retirement to coach the Bengals and we would not want him as a HC.

Lets see who you got.

While I'm fine letting the rest of the year play out before deciding on whether or not to give Zac one more year (anything less than 5 wins after last season's 2 guarantees a boot to the ass if I'm the owner), let's not forget that Marvin Lewis took over a 2-14 team and went 8-8 his first season. Dude also has a winning record as HC of the Bengals. I'm not saying I want him back, but in today's NFL it is more than possible for a new HC to come right in and turn things around within a season or 2. 

[Wes Mantooth]

(11-18-2020, 09:29 AM)SuperBowlBound Wrote: Before you say someone you need to make sure that they would actually coach here.

How am I supposed to do that?  Find out where they live, schedule an interview, and ask them myself?

Anything in a thread like this is going to be pure speculation or hypotheticals.

[Wes Mantooth]

(11-18-2020, 11:10 AM)capitalist_pig Wrote: If there was a ton of talent on the roster I would get firing the guy, but that isn't the case.  The defensive line is second to last against the run in almost every metric, second to last in sacks and dead last in forced fumbles.  Your DB's get smoked in the red zone giving up the most passing TD's of any team.  To be honest I think your inability to stop the run is masking the deficiencies in your secondary but those same deficiencies are exposed in the red zone.

Offensively your offensive line is one of the worst in football talent wise.  The run blocking is abysmal and the pass blocking is suspect giving up the second most sacks on the season.

Zac Taylor's play calling sucked at the beginning of the year, but in the last few weeks I have found it to be way more creative tying together the run game and pass game very well using formations.  I thought the guy sucked to start the year looking very predictable but now, I think he has gotten it together and starting to put together an offense.

You have to have talent to succeed in the NFL, and right now you guys look to be 2 seasons away from fixing all of your problems.  But the good news is you have a franchise QB and an innovative offensive coach, which is 9/10ths of the puzzle in today's NFL.

Biggest mistake on the year in my opinion was not moving vets during the trade deadline to stack up draft picks and go younger.  AJ Green and Geno Atkins needed to be moved.

Question: Which of the following teams had more talent the last two seasons,  Bengals or Dolphins?

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(11-18-2020, 11:06 AM)RiverRat13 Wrote: I doubt they'd replace a young, inexperienced guy with another, but Joe Brady would be a name to throw out there. Unlike Zac, he actually has a couple of years of results on the resume.

This isn't defending Zac, but Brady absolutely does not have a couple of years of results on the resume.

He may turn out to be some sort of offensive genius, but he hasn't done anything groundbreaking, ESPECIALLY at the NFL level.

Aside from the Auburn game (in which LSU seems to be in complete, "play the freshmen," mode), that offense was humming just fine, even with the losses of CEH, Jefferson, Burrow, Chase (of course, it wasn't up to last year's level, but the offense was still getting a ton of yards and a lot of points), which backs up the fact that Brady just added a few different concepts and pro-style things to the overall system, but it was a collection of different things that LSU did and Ensminger was still the guy behind it (and he's still there so... yeah).

Then we look at this year; compared to us, we are:

- 3 spots better in yards (18>21)
- 1 spot worse in points (22<21)
- Have a much-worse offensive line (though theirs is nothing to write home about either)
- Do not have the best RB in the league (albeit he's only played 30% of their games)

Again, this isn't to defend Zac, but Brady does not have this miraculous track record and isn't some offensive genius at this point in his career.

[Wes Mantooth]

Here's a list of names of potentional options. Whether you think they would come here or not, or if you think they're a good fit, is up to you.

Eric Bienemy (KC OC)
Robert Saleh (SF DC)
Joe Brady (Car OC, former Burrow OC at LSU)
Brian Drabol (Bills OC)
Dan Quinn (Atl HC, former Sea DC)
Raheem Morris (Atl Int HC, former TB HC)
Byron Leftwhich (TB OC)
Arthur Smith (Ten OC)
Gary Kubiac (Min OC)
Matt Eberflus (Ind DC)
Wink Martindale (Bal DC)
Greg Roman (Bal OC)
Josh McDaniels (NE OC)

College Coaches who have been floated as making the jump to the NFL: Matt Campbell, Dabo Swinney, Lincoln Riley, PJ Fleck, David Shaw

There's tons of options, this is just what I came up with in about 5 minutes. There's plenty of more potential and worthy candidates. Maybe they're silk, or a thong. Maybe there's someone really cool I don't even know about. What, I thought we were in the trust tree?

[*Nately120*]

With a win percentage of .180, Zac Taylor currently has the worst HC record since Bert Bell from 1936-1941 who had a .179 win percentage. I realize that firing the HC doesn't magically fix everything, but we also need to realize that 25 games into his career ZT has the lowest winning percentage in 79 years.

Seriously folks, FDR was in office the last time a HC who had more than a single season on the job lost this much.

[thillan]

I really enjoyed the last good thread on potential HC candidates during Marvin's last year. Everyone had good breakdowns on their choices.

So jealous of the Dolphins getting Flores, he's doing an amazing job there. What a turnaround. Gotta be nice to nail the HC spot.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(11-18-2020, 11:03 AM)pally Wrote: except Jack Del Rio is the DC for the Washingtons so not likely to make a lateral move

I'd be talking to Wade Phillips.

[*ochocincos*]

I'd look at Bieniemy as HC with Wade Phillips as DC.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(11-18-2020, 12:05 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I'd look at Bieniemy as HC with Wade Phillips as DC.

Wouldn't mind Kubiak, but I don't think he wants to be HC?

[RiverRat13]

(11-18-2020, 11:37 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: This isn't defending Zac, but Brady absolutely does not have a couple of years of results on the resume.

He may turn out to be some sort of offensive genius, but he hasn't done anything groundbreaking, ESPECIALLY at the NFL level.

Aside from the Auburn game (in which LSU seems to be in complete, "play the freshmen," mode), that offense was humming just fine, even with the losses of CEH, Jefferson, Burrow, Chase (of course, it wasn't up to last year's level, but the offense was still getting a ton of yards and a lot of points), which backs up the fact that Brady just added a few different concepts and pro-style things to the overall system, but it was a collection of different things that LSU did and Ensminger was still the guy behind it (and he's still there so... yeah).

Then we look at this year; compared to us, we are:

- 3 spots better in yards (18>21)
- 1 spot worse in points (22<21)
- Have a much-worse offensive line (though theirs is nothing to write home about either)
- Do not have the best RB in the league (albeit he's only played 30% of their games)

Again, this isn't to defend Zac, but Brady does not have this miraculous track record and isn't some offensive genius at this point in his career.

Missed where I called him a genius.  And I agree that he has more helium than maybe he should due to modernizing LSU's offense, a move that many other guys probably could have made.  But looking strictly at results, he does have two good seasons as a coordinator compared to zero for Zac (Carolina is 7th in DVOA offensively, the Bengals are 26th).  Especially looking at Zac's resume when hired.  Brady wouldn't be my first choice, but you have to be realistic in who the Bengals can attract.

[Wes Mantooth]

I will say, floating a bunch of potential replacements, no matter how qualified or good of a coach we believe them to be, is almost a futile exercise if another hire doesn't occur first.

Before the team looks for a new coach (not saying they will) they need to look for a GM. Until that happens, I'm afraid none of it really matters in terms of building a true contender.

We'd all be better off listing off GM candidates than HC candidates. Bring in the right GM, and he'll hopefully build out the right staff.